By Ike Chigozie
The Spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, has revealed the reason why a journalist was addressed as an “enemy of the police” by some officers of the Command attached to the Anambra State House of Assembly during a recent encounter with the journalist at the legislative complex.
Recall that an Anambra-based journalist, Mr. Izunna Okafor, on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, was manhandled and detained by police operatives at the gate of the Anambra State House of Assembly Complex, Awka, following what has been widely described as a “protocol issue” that degenerated into harassment, intimidation, seizure of his phones, and threats of further detention at a nearby police division.
Okafor, in a detailed social-media account of the encounter titled “When Protocol Turns into Harassment — My Ordeal with Security at the Anambra State House of Assembly Gate,” narrated that after properly introducing himself and disclosing his assignment, he was still denied access into the Assembly Complex where he had been formally invited by a serving Commissioner to cover his budget defence.
He said the officers insisted that he must call the Commissioner to “clear him,” even when he showed them from the gate that the Commissioner was already surrounded by journalists and actively speaking on camera, and therefore could not take calls. He added that despite suggesting that one of the officers should accompany him inside if they were in doubt, they refused and insisted that he must call the Commissioner on phone to clear him, even though he was having an interview session.
According to him, when the argument degenerated and he activated his audio recorder openly in their presence, to document what was happening, the officers suddenly snatched and seized his two phones from his pocket, stopped the recording, and started going through his devices while still preventing him from entering the premises. He said they continued the obstruction and harassment until the Commissioner finished the interview he had come to cover.
He revealed that after realizing that his professional purpose of coming there had been defeated, he simply requested his phones to leave, but the officers declined and instead insisted that he must follow them into the complex so the Commissioner could personally confirm his invitation.
He further narrated that even when they got into the premises and the Commissioner confirmed that he invited him, some officers still insisted that he must be detained for “arguing with them” and for “recording the incident,” a position that was instantly adopted by a House of Assembly member who never bothered to ask for his own side of the story before upholding the officers’ intention.
He added that as he tried to explain to the Commissioner what had happened, the officers, emboldened by the legislator’s remarks, began dragging him forcefully by his trousers, pulling him toward their security post, where they eventually detained him. He said there, they insisted that he must sit on bare floor even when he told them he preferred to stand. He said the officers started calling him an “enemy of the police”.
Okafor said he was kept inside the detention facility for long, during which his belongings remained seized, while the officers discussed about handcuffing him and also later recorded him on video. According to him, they also attempted conveying him to the B-Division for detention before they were summoned back to the Assembly building where the Commissioner intervened and called for the matter to be resolved on the spot, which was done.
He revealed that he was compelled to delete the recording of the incident after they returned his phone to him; and which, after he did, the officers still insisted that he must write an apology letter to them and also sign undertaking on their heads before they would allow him to go.
Although he said he didn’t eventually sign the undertaking or write any apology letter as it was vehemently opposed; he, however revealed that as he was leaving at the gate, the officers started mocking and laughing at him, boasting that they had “taught him a lesson” that would make him to know that they are “in charge.”
However, reacting to the incident through a statement issued on Thursday, the Police Public Relations Officer of the State, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, defended the officers’ actions and claimed that no journalist was detained, contrary to Okafor’s account.
According to him in the statement, the officers only carried out routine security checks to verify the authenticity of the journalist’s invitation, adding that the officers acted in line with standard procedure.
“The personnel on duty merely observed standard security protocols by confirming the individual’s identity and the authenticity of his invitation to the Anambra State House of Assembly facility,” the statement read.
Describing the procedure as “routine, non-punitive, and aimed solely at ensuring safety and integrity,” the PPRO also addressed the use of the word “enemy,” which Okafor said was directed at him by the officers. He merely described that as a situational statement the officers used because of unsatisfactory explanation.
“The comment of the ‘enemy’ that was mentioned during the incident is a situational statement that occurred following the unsatisfactory explanation to the officers which resulted in a minor rift but was later resolved,” the Police Spokesman claimed.
Concluding, he said the Police remain committed to maintaining a professional relationship with journalists, while also acknowledging that the media remain critical partners in promoting public safety and accountability.
